ANZAC Day 2017 Guest Speaker - Major Elizabeth Boulton

​Alan Morris, President of the RSL, veterans, distinguished guests and members of the Creswick community, I am honoured to talk to you today.

Australia’s military is only 114 years old, but it has a very rich history, and Creswick has been part of that from the beginning. As most of you would know, people from the Ballarat region were among the first to enlist in WW1, and 871 of those came from this town. Today, Creswick is the home to the magnificent Light Horse Troop, which brings Anzac Day marches to life, all across the country. Next to the RSL building is the Aleppo pine, which is descended from the original lone pine at Gallipoli. Talented craftspeople from this town created the beautiful poppy banner on the Pergola and others created this Memorial garden. As a service member, I am deeply touched when I see this. Clearly, ‘Lest we Forget’ is not just a slogan in this town.

It is perhaps ironic that while the Anzac's were in the Middle East 100 years ago, today we also have service-people in the Middle East. Right now, the ship HMAS Arunta is patrolling the Arabian Sea while Air Force planes are involved in the fight against Daesh. The Army are training members of the Iraqi and Afghan Armies, who once trained, go straight to besieged towns like Mosul, in Iraq. So today, we keep their safety in our thoughts as well.

Part of Australia’s military history involves the loss of 102,000 lives, countless more wounded and the far-reaching impacts all of this had upon families and communities everywhere. Aside from the Anzacs themselves, there are stories of Aboriginal people who have served in our Army since WW1, the child soldiers who lied about their ages; or the 21 nurses who were machine-gunned to death in WW2, by the Japanese. There are stories of those who served in less well-known conflicts, like Malaya, Korea, Cambodia, Rwanda or Somalia.

It impossible to do justice to all who served this country in conflict zones. So today, I would just like to make one tribute, and that is to those who served in the Vietnam War.

VIETNAMThe current US National Security Adviser, Lieutenant General HR McMaster did his PhD research on the decision-making that led to the Vietnam War. In his book, he concludes that the war was lost before it even began. Soldiers who were sent to Vietnam were sent to an unwinnable war and given an impossible mission. As the reality of Vietnam came to light, the public took their anger out on the returning soldiers. The Vietnam Vets endured an excruciating war, a type of jungle warfare most were inadequately trained for, and on returning home, they suffered an even more painful experience: being shamed and ostracised from their home communities.

Yet my generation of serving soldiers owe the Vietnam Veterans a great deal. Those that stayed in the Army documented everything that they had learnt so that future soldiers would be properly prepared. This meant that people like me, as a 20-year-old undergoing training in the early 1990s, worked from Military doctrine, pamphlets or ‘pams’ as we like call them, that had been developed by the Vietnam Vets. There were pams on leadership, team work and patrolling that are so profound, that the knowledge is still relied upon today. My military instructors were taught by Vietnam Veterans, occasionally I was taught by one directly.

When I served in the 3rd Brigade, in Townsville, there was a crinkly and wrinkly Warrant Officer in our unit who was a VV. He was a chain smoker and probably at least a mild alcoholic. He sighed heavily and often. My main memory was of him walking around, grumbling under his breath, that “no bastard had a clue.” He guided us anyway. It was at that time, in September 1999, that our unit deployed to East Timor. This was as part of INTERFET, the first major deployment of defence personnel since Vietnam.

I reflect now on things he told us, and belatedly see his wisdom. We did deploy on that first operation with a sense of naivety and enthusiasm - reminiscent of how the Anzacs were when they first set off. We were lucky that East Timor turned out to be a relatively benign conflict. 18 years on, I can tell you, we now have a different and far more experienced Army.Our Defence Force has been in a very high-tempo period of operations since 1999; we have lost 49 people in the line of duty and 239 modern veterans to suicide. But just before this began, there was a 20-year period where VV played a key and perhaps hidden role in preparing the new Army. The VV had held on long enough to train us, pass the baton, and make sure we had a clue, before they disappeared.

But actually, that wasn’t the last we heard of them. On that first East Timor deployment, another thing happened. We were inundated with letters from VV. They told us to “Keep your head down, look after ya mates.” They reassured us that “no matter what happens, we have your backs, and remember we are so proud of you.” More recently, VV have been there again, reaching out to help today’s returning soldiers.

500 Australians died in Vietnam, 3,129 people were wounded.

The VV received little decent training or post-war support, but what they didn’t receive, they gave to my generation in droves.

So, today I wish to thank and honour those who served in Vietnam.

CONCLUSIONLadies and gentlemen, in conclusion. Today as you reflect may I ask you to consider one thing as you go about your day. I invite you to marvel that you can walk down the street without wearing body armour. To be grateful that the coke can lying by the kerb does not disguise an improvised explosive device, an IED. That when a truck roars past, you need not flinch. It won’t blow up. This is Australia. Trucks do not blow up here. We have peace. Not everyone in this world has peace.

Can you sense it flowing around us now? It is a beautiful, fragile and wonderful thing. It allows us the ability to stand here, together, safely. This is peace. This is what we have. Many people have put themselves in harm’s way so that we could have this experience. Including almost 900 Creswick residents, 100 years ago. Let us not forget those who died or suffered. But let us not forget either, what we have. Peace, and how precious that is.

​Thank you.

Major Elizabeth Boulton, Creswick, 25 April 2017.

Ode of Remembrance

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow oldAge shall not weary them, nor the years condemnAt the going down of the sun and in the morningWe will remember them